Top legislature appoints new agriculture, emergency ministers

China's top legislature on Thursday approved the appointment of two new ministers.

At a session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress, lawmakers voted to appoint Zhang Zhu as minister of agriculture and rural affairs and Zhang Chengzhong as minister of emergency management.

The decision was adopted at the committee's 22nd session, which concluded Thursday.

Previously, at a meeting on Tuesday afternoon, a representative of the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee announced the decision to name Zhang Zhu as Party secretary of the ministry's leading Party group, replacing Han Jun.

Zhang Zhu, born in February 1968, is a native of Tongxin county in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region. Prior to the appointment, he served as deputy Party secretary of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Party secretary of its capital, Urumqi, according to public information.

Zhang Chengzhong, born in October 1970, is a native of Gaizhou city of Northeast China's Liaoning province. In November 2024, he was appointed a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Hebei Provincial Committee and Party secretary of Tangshan.